Original Writing by Robert Leigh Angus

  The Carnival   Grift   By Moses Levi  (Published in DIRTY CLEAN MAGAZINE, Vol.18, No. 11)   “The idea of grifting may conjure stylized images of Finger Lifters, Pick Pockets, Poker Card Mechanics, Petty Thieves, Dine N’ Dashers, Paycheck Fraudsters, Prostitutes, Drug Dealers, and Short Changers. Most people associate grifting with small timey con artists, and assume that everyone who engages in such activity is a criminal. Some even go as far as painting professionals such as prestidigitators, clowns, gamester carnies, and sideshow barkers with the same brush, if only because they cannot accept abnormative performance arts as one and the same as their own cultural stereotypes. But here, HERE, people of short stature, people of large stature, women of manly stature, men of feminine stature, knife jugglers, monstrosities, freaks, geeks, psychics, outcasts and practically minded hucksters, fools and carnival enthusiasts all have a place at the table. Jesus ...

  All Cops Are Bastards   By Moses Levi   (Published in CRIME Vol.5, No. 6)   “You don’t become a goon, you are born a goon.”   “I live my life in the gutter so that you don’t have to.”   “Any time of the day, I’ll do anything for my Brothers. No matter what.”   “It’s not about legality. It’s about making sure that world continues to make sense. It’s not about right or wrong. Thugs exist to keep things straight. People fear thugs. Making sure that thugs are scary is the whole point of being a thug.”   “I’m flattered when they try to make it more coherent than all of that. We’re that thin blue line that keeps order. We keep chaos from taking over. A little corruption is necessary. We’re supposed to be nice to little kids, not to the drunken homeless vagrants that piss all over themselves when the handcuffs are put on too tight, and our knees are pounded repeatedly against their kidneys.”   …………………………………………..   “We don’t ...

Work Comes at Night   By Moses Levi   Not all stories have a villain. This one doesn’t. Not all villains tell their story. This one won’t.   Mikey Hugh stepped out of the hotel entrance onto a busy street, the daylight shocking his eyes. It was mid-morning, and the city was already well into its activity.   He adjusted the rim of his grey trilby to shade his eyes and dug around in his breast pocket for his Arnel shades. Finding his pack of Luckies instead, he pulled one out, squinting into the street traffic and passersby around him as he fumbled for his lighter. A spark and puff of smoke later, he stepped off the Hotel stoop and out onto the sidewalk.   He tried the other breast pocket, and found both his wallet and his glasses. He left the wallet where it was, and slipped on the olive shades. “Better”, he thought.   He walked past the Chinese grocer on the corner, waved at the old man stacking a box of fruit onto his produce display at the f...

 NOTE: The novel in progress, "More Money Than Moses", is a crime fiction story which explores the life of the protagonist through excerpts of his own writing, articles, reviews, interviews, news paper clippings, and third hand accounts. The novel features a novella written by the protagonist, entitled "No Such Thing as a Sure Thing", of which this is the Second Chapter.  No Such Thing as a Sure Thing by Moses Levi (Excerpt from the novel "More Money than Moses") Chapter Two Kings, Queens, and Jacks Myles had lived in Charlestown his entire life. In spite of himself, he grew up only three blocks away from the apartment he resided in. The church he attended periodically, mostly following a regretful binge and a moment   or three of nostalgia, but as often as not because their soup kitchen was open all day, was a short walk from his stoop. He knew everyone. They knew him. It was a comfortable life, if not particularly meaningful. He visited his Mother on...